David Dick (1896-1984), MA, BD
David Dick [1921-SM1-002] was born on 8 August 1896 to John Dick and Thomasina Smith in Cellardyke, Fife, and was schooled at Waid Academy in nearby Anstruther. He matriculated at the United College in the University of St Andrews in 1914, aged about 18, but soon left to join the army. He served in the Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders regiment, in France and Macedonia, and reached the rank of Lieutenant.
In 1919, he returned to St Andrews and graduated M.A. in 1921. Dick immediately re-matriculated as a first year into St Mary’s College in 1921, where he graduated with a B.D. in 1924 with distinction in Biblical Criticism and Hebrew. During his time at St Andrews, Dick was Editor of College Echoes in 1922-3.
He was licensed to preach by the Presbytery of St Andrews in 1924, and then served as an assistant at Dunblane. Also in 1924, Dick was appointed to work as an organiser at the Church of Scotland and United Free Church joint mission for the Jewish in Constantinople, due to his foreign language expertise. Returning to Scotland, Dick was ordained on 1 September 1926, then became Chaplain to the Forces Territorial Army in 1930 for five years.
On 25 February 1931, he married Isabella Margaret Torrance Nicoll. Their children were David Douglas (b.1933), Dennis John (d. 1934), Doreen Ella Margaret Nicoll (b.1937).
After his Territorial Army position, Dick was called to Torthorwald, Dumfries & Galloway, in 1935. When war broke out, he joined the Royal Army Chaplain’s Department, but served only 1939-40. From 1940, he ministered to St Ninian’s, Stirling, until retiring in 1968. He remained in Stirling for the rest of his life.
He published two works related to his position at St Ninians: the description of the parish in the Third Statistical Account of Scotland in 1952 and Letters to a School Chaplain in 1954. He was an active rotarian, and was President of the Rotary International in Great Britian and Ireland from 1955-56.
His wife died in 1967, and in 1968, he remarried to Margaret Nicolson Wilson or Cunningham. He recieved a Doctorate of Divinity from St Andrews that same year.
David Dick passed away in 1984 in Stirling.
This entry was written in May 2026 by Ava Goodman, then a second-year student of International Relations.